SAP IPD Collaboration and Provisional Specifications Validation for a European Consumer Health Manufacturer

LeverX delivered SAP IPD Collaboration and Provisional Specifications integrated with SAP Engineering Control Center (SAP ECTR) and SAP S/4HANA, enabling business users to work with the new collaboration and specification management approach.

Client

The client is a consumer health and home care manufacturer operating in Southern Europe. The company develops and distributes products across several categories, including oral care, wound care (e.g., plasters and tapes), and health and nutrition products. The local business employs around 120 people and operates two work centers: a manufacturing site producing wound care products and a commercial office supporting market operations. The organization operates across multiple sales channels and collaborates with a broad supplier ecosystem.

Challenge

The client’s product specification management and collaboration landscape lacked scalability, transparency, and governance. Key challenges included:

• Fragmented, non-scalable system landscape: Product specifications and related data were maintained across multiple disconnected tools that could not scale efficiently with growing business and data complexity.
• Distributed specification data and limited transparency: Specifications were stored on different platforms, creating silos and increasing the effort required to maintain data consistency.
• Usability and adoption barriers: Existing solutions offered a poor user experience, including complex navigation, too many steps to access documents and product attributes, and limited intuitive exploration of product data.
• Inefficient collaboration model: Supplier, manufacturer, and internal collaboration were largely email-driven, resulting in low traceability, version control issues, and weak process governance.
• Manual supplier data maintenance: Supplier-provided product data was entered manually, increasing the risk of errors, inconsistencies, and delays in validation and development workflows.
• Integration gaps with legacy systems: The client required a reliable integration approach to support seamless data exchange with SAP and enable end-to-end product lifecycle processes.

Solution

LeverX delivered a completed SAP IPD–based collaboration and specification management solution, integrated with SAP ECTR and SAP S/4HANA Recipe Development and Specification Management.

The engagement was delivered as part of LeverX SAP Consulting services and focused on establishing an SAP-native collaboration framework for managing product specifications and documentation across internal teams and external partners. No custom development was required.

The implemented solution introduced a structured, governed approach to specification management, supplier collaboration, and document exchange, replacing fragmented tools and email-based processes.

SAP IPD Collaboration

SAP IPD Collaboration was implemented as a centralized environment for coordinating internal and external interactions around product definition data. Collaboration templates defined data visibility and permissions, ensuring that specifications, attributes, and documents were shared with suppliers and partners in a controlled and traceable way.

Provisional Specifications

SAP IPD Provisional Specifications were used to support the structured and secure exchange of packaging and raw material data with suppliers and development partners. This approach standardized specification creation and validation workflows, reduced manual data handling, and improved overall data quality. The solution also enabled collecting sustainability- and regulation-relevant data directly from suppliers within the specification collaboration context.

SAP IPD–SAP ECTR integration

To support document-driven processes such as artwork and design data handling, SAP IPD was integrated with SAP ECTR. Product documentation managed in ECTR could be accessed and shared through SAP IPD collaboration folders using guided import and drag-and-drop mechanisms while preserving versioning and lifecycle control.

Data handover to SAP

The solution established a structured process for transferring finalized and approved specification data back to the SAP source system, ensuring consistent product master data and continuity for downstream processes.

Approach and enablement

LeverX combined deep SAP IPD expertise with business-driven workshops and hands-on user scenarios to design and deliver the solution in close alignment with the client’s processes. On-site enablement sessions supported user adoption and ensured that key stakeholders were able to work effectively with the new collaboration and specification management approach.

LeverX’s role as a co-developer of SAP IPD capabilities and its close collaboration with SAP provided early insight into solution architecture, roadmap alignment, and best practices, enabling delivery of a future-ready SAP IPD landscape aligned with both current requirements and long-term platform evolution.

The delivered scope included:

• One SAP IPD Collaboration type
• Two Provisional Specification templates
• SAP S/4HANA integration configuration (Recipe Development and Specification Management)
• SAP IPD–ECTR integration for document exchange

Technology Stack

• SAP IPD: Collaboration, Provisional Specifications (Specification Collaboration)
• SAP ECTR
• SAP S/4HANA: Recipe Development and Specification Management (EPD/EPF)

Results

The completed project established a scalable, SAP-based foundation for product development collaboration and specification governance.

As a result, the client gained:

• A centralized, SAP-native approach to managing product specifications and documentation
• A structured replacement for email-based collaboration with workflow-driven, traceable interactions
• Secure supplier collaboration without exposing internal SAP systems
• Integrated management of artwork and product documentation across SAP ECTR and SAP IPD
• Alignment with key non-functional requirements, including role-based security, scalability across divisions and product categories, improved usability, data consistency, and reliable integration between SAP IPD, SAP S/4HANA, and SAP ECTR
• Enabled end users through hands-on training, with approximately 100–120 person-hours invested in preparation and execution
• A solution scope supporting approximately 50 users